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The Beast

The Beast. 2001, A.I. Movie poster:. What is an ARG?. An immersive storytelling experience Multimedia: Blogs, youtube , forums, phone calls, text messages, audio, GPS, IM, games-within-games, puzzles, discussions, twitter, facebook , apps, collaboration, meetups , text, secret ops…

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The Beast

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  1. The Beast • 2001, A.I. Movie poster:

  2. What is an ARG? • An immersive storytelling experience • Multimedia: • Blogs, youtube, forums, phone calls, text messages, audio, GPS, IM, games-within-games, puzzles, discussions, twitter, facebook, apps, collaboration, meetups, text, secret ops… • The real world is the publishing medium • Collaborative • “No one knows everything, everyone knows something, all knowledge resides in humanity” • Pierre Levy, Collective Intelligence

  3. Why this kind of game? “All my game career I’ve been looking for ways to make game stories more immersive, and a key way to do this is to reduce the number or the height of the leaps of abstraction between the player and the story. By leaps of abstraction I mean “things you have to do different because it’s a game.” Using a controller is an abstractive leap, using button combos is another, and so on. Each leap makes the game less immersive and leaves potential players behind as a result. So when I came to Alternate Reality Games in late 2004, it was like coming home. There’s no controller, no avatar, nothing between you and the game. So I just knew I had to start working in that area.” -Ken Eklund

  4. Example: I Love Bees • 2004, promoted Halo 2

  5. Example: The Dark Knight • 2008, http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/02/26/viral-recap-the-dark-knights-why-so-serious-campaign/

  6. Vocabulary • “Rabbit Hole”: The method of an ARG’s launch • “Puppet Master” (PM): A person running an ARG • “This is not a game”: Many ARGs don’t explicitly admit they are games.

  7. Tiers of play Source: http://42entertainment.com/see.html

  8. Real-world crossover

  9. Anatomy of a puzzle • Mysterious audio file:

  10. One spectrograph later…

  11. Anatomy of a live event

  12. Synchronous vs. Asychronous • Players can come together • Players can collaborate apart OR

  13. ‘Viral’ vs. ‘Experience’ vs. ‘Game’ • Same tools used in all three • ‘Viral’ is often a one-time event or production • ‘Experience’ is a trail of puzzles & interactions, linear, repeatable • ‘Game’ is more collaborative, longer term

  14. Why participate? • Swag! • Recognition • Immersion • ‘Wow’ factor • Interesting stories

  15. Community

  16. ARGfest: http://2011.argfestocon.com/

  17. Serious Game: Year Zero • 2007, Nine Inch Nails • Civil Resistance

  18. Serious Game: World Without Oil • 2007, non-promotional • http://worldwithoutoil.org/ • Asychronous, collaborative, explicitly educational • Worked on a limited budget • Lesson plans: http://worldwithoutoil.org/metateachers.htm

  19. Serious game: Skeleton Chase • IU Bloomington, Fall 2008 • Structured around physical fitness

  20. Serious Game: Ghosts of a Chance • Smithsonian, 2008 • www.GhostsofaChance.com • Final report: http://ghostsofachance.com/GhostsofaChance_Report2.pdf

  21. Serious Game:Should Brandon and Nicole get Engaged? • UNC, 2010 • moviestar2b.blogspot.com/ • http://www.youtube.com/user/ShBANGE • More info: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1878335.1878376&coll=DL&dl=GUIDE&CFID=15009796&CFTOKEN=80479239

  22. Serious Game:Urgent Evoke • Online, 2010 • http://www.urgentevoke.com • Repeatable! • Story?

  23. Experience Vs. Story

  24. Tangential Learning • Expose a player to new ideas and potential for learning, without forcing it on them • (source: http://www.edge-online.com/blogs/the-power-tangential-learning ) • ARGs can take it even further: learn new skills along the way

  25. So you want to play an ARG… • Brief Experience: • www.Love-Resurrected.com • Community: • Unforums: http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/ • www.ARGN.com

  26. So you want to make an ARG... • Allow far more time than you think • Complete everything in advance • Target a core audience to start • Structure around the tiers of play • Story is key • Monitor your community of players

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